Earth Island News

Women’s Global Green Action Network

A global voice for women’s leadership

Women’s Global Green Action Network (WGGAN)
held its inaugural Mexico City 2006: Grassroots Women Environmental
Leaders Strategy Meeting, and then took part in the Mexico 2006 Fourth
World Water Forum.

Last year, WGGAN launched a search for visionary
advocates, organizers, and entrepreneurs working on the frontlines of
sustainability, and selected 30 leaders to join in identifying
long-term priorities and action plans.

Many at our
meeting had answered our call out of deep concern for their communities
and for the future of the planet, and they were ready to magnify the
scope of their effectiveness and model solutions on the global stage.

Legal Assistance Needed

Are
you a lawyer, law student or legal professional interested in traveling
abroad to take part in dynamic and community-based environmental work?

From September 28 – October 8, 2006, Women’s
Global Green Action Network and Global Exchange will organize a legal
team to travel as an advocacy delegation to Bolivia. This group will
work with women grassroots activists advocates opposing the use of GMOs
in Bolivia. We will work at the politically dynamic intersection of the
Bolivian movement for nationalized control of land and resources,
women's stewardship of agricultural production, and international trade
policy.

Our attorney-delegates will have the opportunity to
apply analytical skills and solution-building techniques to promote
lasting environmental sustainability. We welcome donations to support
the work of the delegation. If you would like to fund part of a
delegate's travel expenses, please visit our website or contact us.
Partial scholarships are available based on need.

Each
woman brought a story of extraordinary trials, remarkable perseverance,
and hope. Devorah Brous taught us about her fight for environmental
justice for the disenfranchised Bedouin community in Israel. Kaisha
Atakhanova recounted the incredible campaign she led to prevent nuclear
waste from being commercially imported into Kazakhstan. Sizani Ngubane
described her founding of the Rural Women’s Movement in South Africa,
which mobilized over 500 women’s groups to promote sustainable
development and economic empowerment and to participate actively in
local governance and land rights issues. Pati Ruiz Corzo shared the
story of her tireless work to establish a million-acre,
community-managed Biosphere Reserve in Mexico’s Sierra Gorda.

In
the three-day meeting, the group agreed upon shared values and
principles, identified communication and networking needs, established
regional hubs, and committed ourselves to a set of actions. We
identified key gaps, technological and otherwise, that hinder our
communication; we then began designing mechanisms to connect the
thousands of women who could not be present in Mexico. The group agreed
that regional WGGAN coordinators will channel information, resources,
and training between WGGAN and the grassroots, and we discussed
communication and information methods. We mapped out strategies for
creating a multi-tiered support structure; by breaking the isolation
that many women environmental advocates face, we can transcend social,
political, and geographic barriers. The group designed and agreed upon
joint advocacy projects, regional trainings, volunteer exchange
programs, a strategy for affecting international policy, and mechanisms
for exchange of best practices.

Then
the WGGAN delegation attended the Mexico 2006 Fourth World Water Forum.
This year’s theme was “Local Actions for a Global Challenge," and the
delegation worked in concert with women from over 25 countries to draft
a declaration affirming their human right to water and the need to
include women in water management decisions.

Our delegation
also had the tremendous honor of holding the circle for the Hopi
Runners welcoming ceremony. Members of Mesa, Arizona’s Hopi tribe ran
for two weeks carrying sacred water from their home in the United
States to Mexico. During a deeply moving ceremony at the World Water
Forum, the runners received a formal welcome from a group of central
Mexico’s indigenous elders, performed traditional dance and song, and
offered blessings to a group of the women from the WGGAN summit.

WGGAN in action

Back
in California, we’re hard at work. A WGGAN delegation will attend the
United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) 14th
Session in New York City. This year’s theme is energy, and WGGAN will
work with the CSD International Women’s Caucus to continue ensuring
that women are included in international policy discussions.

This
June, WGGAN will present the first WGGAN-supported regional training.
The Women’s World Water Movement Biosand Filter (BSF) Training will
implement a household water filtration project in Palawan, Philippines,
and will provide the first model for WGGAN’s regional training
component. Within the next year, WGGAN will support each of our
coordinators in designing and hosting similar training sessions.

Take Action:

For more information about this unique opportunity, please visit www.wggan.org and click on "Exchanges". To donate, visit www.wggan.org and click on “Donate”. You can reach us at: WGGAN P.O. Box 14146 Berkeley, CA 94712 415 788 3666 ext. 225 info@wggan.org

Emphasizing
the global as well as the local, WGGAN has identified several partners
with technological expertise who are helping us explore communication
tools to support women from villages to cities. We are also considering
a micro-finance project to bring internet capability to villages in
remote areas. The long-term goal is to provide resources for online
conferences, a global searchable database, web-based radio,
pod-casting, and more – literally amplifying the voices of grassroots
women and documenting and sharing best practices.